


We've Come A Long Way

by Ragingstillness



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A cuddle fic, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Multi, Pack Dynamics, The Softest™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26366275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragingstillness/pseuds/Ragingstillness
Summary: Pepper ruminates on the formation of the Avengers pack.
Relationships: Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers - Relationship, OTMany, Poly!Avengers - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29
Collections: Marvel Trumps Hate 2019





	We've Come A Long Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZepysGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZepysGirl/gifts).



It had taken a while for them all to get here. There had been pain and death and torture and a whole lot of emotional pain, but finally Pepper felt like they might have made it to the light at the end of the tunnel. She raised her arms over her head as she stretched, yawning. Before she could put her arms down wiggling fingers palpated her stomach and she curled in on herself with a little shriek.

“Natasha!” She scolded the other Beta. Natasha just grinned, turning her tickling fingers into a soft hug, scenting the back of Pepper’s neck with her cheek. “I couldn’t help it. Your skin is always so soft how do you do it?” Natasha’s voice trailed off into a sleepy mumble and she started fake snoring into Pepper’s back, leaning some of her weight onto Pepper.

“Ooh are we having a group hug? I could go for a group hug.” Darcy had woken up, wearing nothing but an oversized shirt and boxer shorts. In the morning light she looked absolutely gorgeous.

Natasha let go of Pepper to hug and scent Darcy. “Congratulations Darcy, you’re the first Omega up.”

Darcy rolled her eyes over Natasha’s arms. “If you think Steve wasn’t up at 5 am with Sam doing that stupid running thing of theirs you’re crazy.”

Natasha snorted and blew on Darcy’s bangs. “Some Omegas bond by cuddling, some with sex, and the weird ones wake up ghastly early to get sweaty and gross.”

Pepper shrugged. “Whatever works for them.”

She checked the spreadsheet that was held to the refrigerator by a little Mjolnir pin, a gag gift from Jane to Thor after he returned to Earth. “What a coincidence, it’s both of your turns to make breakfast. I’m going to go wake Bucky. He gets lonely when Steve and Sam go away, but he’ll never admit it.”

“Give him a kiss from me,” Darcy called.

Pepper took the elevator up to the pack floor. All residents had their own set of rooms but after a full pack bond had been established, most of them could be found hanging out on this particular floor. It used to be known as the common floor. Now it was the pack floor and while they still had a communal kitchen, bathroom, and training rooms, any pack activities took place here.

Pepper crept on stockinged feet past the couch where Tony and Bruce had fallen asleep on each other, sheaves of paper covered in mathematical equations hanging precariously from their lax fingertips. While she didn’t approve of their science binges she was happy to find them asleep rather than still up on an all-night bender, beginning to mix up quarks and electrons.

Pepper was especially proud of Tony. For all his fierce independence, having a pack had smoothed out all his rough edges and he was getting much better at trusting his packmates to have his back.

The couch and several other seating areas made up their above ground pack space. Pepper and Tony wanted the very best for their packmates and had quickly agreed with Natasha on the construction of one of those 80s conversation pits, sunk into the floor by a few feet, but filled with various nesting materials and soft textures rather than armchairs and coffee tables. It was more than large enough for all of them to stretch out and not bump into each other but anyone in their communal nest was usually there to cuddle.

On the far side of the pit, his front to the door, she spotted Bucky, metal arm tucked under him, the imprint of two bodies still denting the memory foam next to him. He wasn’t alone in the nest; Pepper glanced enviously at Rhodey, passed out in a wildly uncomfortable position atop Clint. How they’d get out of that Human Knot she’d be interested to see.

Jane and Thor were holed up in a side room because he had just returned from another trip to Asgard and the Alpha in Jane wouldn’t let her release him to the rest of the pack until it’d scented its mate thoroughly and held him for a night.

Thor didn’t have a dynamic as they thought of it, but he still was happy to participate in pack activities and Jane’s possessive side only made her more attractive to him.

Asgard had different rules, something called Sentinel and Guide, where half of the population had enhanced senses but would get overwhelmed if they couldn’t establish a baseline and another half had mild telepathic and empathetic skills, making them the balance to the Sentinels.

They still had fated mates and a form of bonding but nothing as primal as Earth dynamics. Thor was a Guide, and, like his father, had inherited the immense power that allowed him to expand his empathy as a blanket of calm. His mother had been a Sentinel, but his brother was apparently something completely different again, called a Sub, and therefore Thor had some experience with planetary differences although he hadn’t known it at the time.

Pepper knelt at the edge of the nest, reaching a hand down towards Bucky. She dangled her wrist in front of his face first, letting him take in her scent and recognize her as _pack, safe, calm,_ before brushing over his hair. His eyes opened and he smiled at her. God that roguish grin hadn’t changed in 70 years. Pepper felt herself flush. She set a finger against her lips and Bucky allowed her to pretend she was helping him up and out of the nest. She pulled him into the hall near the elevator, closing the door to the pack room.

Before he could get a word out she was up on her tiptoes, kissing him deeply. His chest vibrated gently with his purr and he kissed back, setting her gently down on her feet.

“Not that I’m not pleased but any particular reason for this lovely response so early in the morning doll?”

Pepper flushed again. She knew that he knew her weakness for pet names and he used it every chance he got. Pepper pretended to think about it for a moment before saying, “Oh that was from Darcy.”

Bucky covered his mouth with his metal hand to muffle his laughter. “Good old Darce. She making breakfast?”

“Mhm.” Pepper took his hand and led him into the elevator, happily intertwining their fingers and leaning on his shoulder.

The elevator doors opened to the lovely scent of bacon and eggs and toast, Darcy and Natasha twisting around each other like chefs in a competition show, fielding multiple pans and pots at once.

Bucky swept easily into the chaos, taking some of the load off the girls even though it wasn’t his turn to cook. Pepper stayed on a seat at the counter, her own cooking too atrocious to contribute.

Bucky was always so helpful. When Steve and Sam had first brought him home, the three of them a shivering pile of miserable Omega on the tower’s landing pad, Pepper had been a little nervous. But the way Natasha sprinted out to them and quickly kissed and scented them all with no hesitation calmed her. Natasha would deny it, but she’d wept a little, cuddling Bucky to her chest, thankful that the man with the sad eyes she’d seen from the Red Room had finally made it home.

Although several tons of steel and fiberglass separated them, Tony and Bruce were lured downstairs by the smell of food. They had walked in holding hands and rubbing their eyes, looking like two lost children.

Pepper wandered over and swept them both up in a hug, kissing them on the lips, lightly for Bruce who didn’t like being kissed deeply unless he was fully aware, and the exact opposite for Tony. Pepper and Tony had become pack before anyone else, together with Rhodey.

Rhodey and Tony had an unstable bond through Tony’s college years. Tony would go to great lengths to present an appearance of normalcy because he wanted to be an unobtrusive presence in Rhodey’s life, while the Alpha was constantly trying to break through Tony’s shell.

“Turns out I’m a two Beta man,” Rhodey used to joke. Tony had clicked with Pepper from the moment she barged into his office and dropped a sheaf of paper on his desk, or tried to, and instead ended up smacking him in the face with it. When Tony had picked his jaw up and stopped laughing he noticed what Pepper had; someone from the board embezzling money right under his nose. It was pure luck that Rhodey happened to come for a visit that day and Pepper quickly fell in love with his sense of humor and his kind eyes. They pack bonded soon after.

The three weathered a lot, from actual conflict to accusations from the media that they weren’t following the natural order by having a pack with two Betas and an Alpha. After the Battle of New York their pack was in emotional disarray. Tony had always been particularly self-sacrificial, but this took the cake completely. Pepper would take one look at him and begin to cry and Rhodey flipped rapidly between anger and upset. Tony himself was deeply hurt by the experience and really needed his mates but he knew this time he’d hurt them too much. He ended up finding a small amount of comfort in inviting Bruce to play around in his lab. Bruce was shy at first but quickly proved to be incredibly intelligent and a great sounding board for Tony’s emotions.

He stayed over the first night because Tony claimed it was too late for him to walk home in the dark even if he was the Hulk. Touched by Tony’s concern and with a slowly growing attraction to the man, Bruce ended up staying several more nights and having conversations with Pepper and Rhodey. He helped both sides to understand each other and at the end of a particularly painful group conversation Tony made a vow to always let them know before he did anything that might cause his immediate death (with the exception of lab experiments) and Pepper and Rhodey swore to never shut him out again no matter how upset they were.

They gathered into a cuddle on the couch and Bruce got pulled in. He thought it was out of politeness but really they were just so grateful to this kind, patient man who helped them glue their family back together. Within six months Bruce was part of their pack.

Tony, secretly hopeful for a large pack, quietly contacted Natasha to see if she and Clint would be willing to swing by for a little bit and bring Steve if they could. Natasha’s reply was short but not terse. She said she was currently on a mission with Clint and that neither of them knew where Steve was, but they’d look into it.

The next update came from Natasha to Tony without prompting, a pleasant surprise. Natasha said the mission was over and they had found Steve but made thinly veiled references to her worry about him.

Tony, knowing that Steve had finally found his life at a slow point, suggested that maybe he was feeling the loss of his old pack.

Natasha agreed to see if that was the case and came back with confirmation but also frustration over Steve’s refusal to look for a new one. The Beta in Natasha chafed at seeing an Omega so upset and so reluctant to attend to his own needs. Steve never scented anyone, he spent a lot of time alone, and he was having little lapses of concentration where he’d just fixate on something and disappear into his own head.

Tony was worried but some electric whip wielding freak was making noise about killing Tony’s pack so that took higher priority.

Natasha thanked her lucky stars when she first saw Sam running alongside Steve. Steve was clearly lapping him, but they had started a bit of friendly banter that Natasha could see developing into more. She knew Sam wanted it, and Steve did too but unfortunately losing his old pack did not mean losing the internalized homophobia that existed in that time.

It was actually Clint who found Steve during a panic attack over his attraction to Sam and Natasha who picked up Sam and brought him over immediately. With the skill of an expert and the softness of a lover Sam managed to coax Steve out of the attack and bare his feelings without fear. They became pack and after some dancing around on everyone’s part they joined Natasha and Clint.

She was greatly pleased by this. But she missed the other Avengers, the way it had felt like they were all one united group when they fought together, like such different individuals might have finally become just what each other needed. It made Natasha feel unstable in their current location and she hated that so in a decisive move she flew them all back to the tower without warning.

She expected a bit of awkwardness, but Tony smiled so wide when he saw her that she couldn’t help but scent him as they all came in. The transition was almost seamless, everyone falling into a happy pack. This was when most of the renovations were made and Natasha and Pepper took joy in scheduling mandatory cuddle time while Tony made the pack floor as pack-friendly as possible. They were happy, very much so, and while Thor had no dynamic as they did, they missed his presence all the same.

They were quite pleased to see him return to Earth, less pleased to see him risking his life fighting some bizarre steampunk elf man. But in the end Thor triumphed and they made contact. It turned out that Thor had picked up a small pack of his own along the way, albeit not one that could bond.

Jane and Darcy were absolutely delightful, and quite intelligent. Jane was absorbed into Tony and Bruce’s science sessions, glorying in finally having people who could understand her nearby. Darcy took to everyone and was quite flirty when she figured out how big the pack was already. It was absolutely charming and simultaneously cheesy as hell. It took one family dinner where Pepper kissed Darcy as thanks for passing the potatoes without thinking about it for them to also be absorbed into the big Avengers pack.

The media had calmed at this point, seeing a mostly even balance in the group between the three dynamics.

Life continued in roughly the same way until Steve started acting strangely again. He was spending too much time alone again and his paintings all had sorrow clinging to their edges. When Jane managed to coax him out of his room with hot chocolate the air was permeated with distress. But Steve was nothing if not stubborn and it took Clint tying him to a chair and Tony literally sitting on him to get the proper answer.

Turns out that not all of Cap’s old pack were dead and now they had a rampant brainwashed supersoldier to chase. Always fun being an Avenger. It was a rough period, lots of panic, lots of searching, lots of painful battles and realizations. Tony took the information about the death of his parents hard but with the comfort of his pack quickly came around to seeing Bucky as innocent and settled into a period of re-mourning his parents.

Bucky was, a challenge. He had moments of lack of memory, was always on guard but also always submissive. It was hard to tell what he was thinking or his emotions as he had been trained to have supreme control over his scent. Thor, of all people, ended up being the one to open Bucky up. They had begun sparring together and Bucky was thrilled to find that no matter how hard he hit he didn’t have to worry about hurting Thor. And of course, like that, the final piece of their pack found its place.

A plate of pancakes was set on the counter before Pepper, startling her out of her reminiscing. While she was lost in thought the whole pack had gathered and the requisite five minutes or so to kiss and scent everyone had passed.

Breakfast was loud, as always, lots of people complaining of oversleeping and gently teasing Tony about things being, “too soft,” while making sure not to set him to thinking they genuinely wanted anything changed.

After breakfast everyone had to digest so it was a perfect opportunity for cuddling. The pack followed their three Betas like dutiful little ducklings, arranging themselves in the complex scheme of engineering that put them all comfortably in the pit.

Tony curled up on one of the edges, spooning Bruce who was facing inward enough to rest his head on Natasha’s back. Bucky and Steve were wrapped up together like peas in a pod, their similar heights not a single deterrent to Bucky tucking his head beneath Steve’s and Steve grinning like he won the lottery.

Pepper tucked herself into the center with Jane, pulling her close for a quick kiss before resting their arms lightly against each other. Darcy had elected to avoid lying directly on the nesting materials and instead sprawled out completely on top of Thor, already snoring. The thunder god gave his human blanket the softest of smiles and snagged a fluffy length of fabric to drape over her.

Rhodey and Sam were lying near Steve and Bucky, getting in a last-minute conversation about military strategy before the mandatory silence of cuddle time was put into place. Pepper could tell that it was Clint behind her by the hard muscles of his back, one hand wrapped with Thor’s and the other draped across his own stomach. Everyone pulled their favorite textured items close and Natasha gave the command to dim the lights.

It may have still been the early morning but a little siesta in the cuddle pile would be good for all of them. Pepper’s final thought was of how pleasantly warm she was, in comfortable clothing, vulnerable to so many people, and how very much she loved it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hooray I finally finished writing and editing this! I hope you all enjoy, and, support Marvel Trumps Hate!


End file.
